Dumpster Diving

When white hipsters do it they call it freeganism. Don't get me wrong I rock with aspects of it like Food Not Bombs or Freecycle. What I have issue with though is that it makes it seems as though 'rescuing goods from trash' is the 'next new white thing'. Reality is people on the outskirts of society have long been salvaging that 'trash of opulence and gluttony'. Many look at recycling, downcyling, or upcycling as a current enviromentalist response to industrialization. The reality is that there has always been a segment of society that has taken this weight on their shoulders whether by choice or necessity.

People have been dumpster diving forever. There has always been the junk man, waste picker, or karung guni.

If YOU don't recycle that is one of the direct ways that you are posioning the planet and contributing to environmental racism. Forget the corporations and other 'big guys' that are destroying the environment. Start the journey with the look into your own nasty ass.

There is a river that runs through New Haven. It runs straight by the garbage dump. All of that mercury, sewage, etc leaking right back into the environment. Where is this dump and river located? Right in the Hill section of New Haven which is one of the central so called Latino (because lets be real..what the kcuf does Latin have to do with Boriken {so called Puerto Rico..back to the original name y'all}, Quisqueya {Hati/Dominican Republic}, Mexico-Tenochtitl {Mexico} and so on) sections of the city. And yes, it is located on the other side of the tracks.

Also, guess what, the poor people of that neighborhood fish in that river. Which of course is going to feed mercury and other toxins into their bodies. Which in turn is going to destroy the health of the community. Which in turn is a direct result of where they are forced to live in the city due to economic opportunities. That garbage dump needs to be more efficient AND needs to be located away from human habitation.

So the next time you see that 'bum' digging through the garbage that man is a freegan. He is off the grid in ways that 'revolutionaries' only 'dream' about. Look into ways that you can recycle anything from soda bottles to batteries. I'll drop some here and there as I come across them.